In a new post, Janice Hardy focuses on internal conflict, a juicy source of obstacles for your protagonist in a character-driven novel. “At the heart of every good internal conflict is a fear created by trauma,” she says. “Something bad happened to that character at some point to scar them for life, and this fear affects how they make decisions. This is usually the fear they must overcome by the end of the book to finally grow as a character and overcome whatever obstacle has been in their path.”
Ask yourself:
- What is your protagonist’s greatest fear?
- How did they get it?
- What bad decisions to they make because of this fear?
- What situation could force your protagonist to face this fear?
- How will this fear prompt them to make mistakes?
- Is there a point when this fear will make them want to give up?
- How will overcoming the fear help them succeed?
“Playing the internal and external conflicts off each other creates a strong plot because the mistakes the protagonist makes come from someplace real within that character—they aren’t just mistakes because the plot said so,” Hardy says. “The internal conflict gives meaning to the external plot actions, and creates strong motivations for the protagonist to act. It also raises the stakes by making them more personal.”
